We are officially listed as "hosted" on the New Horizons photo listing... so exciting!

To date we have raised $320 and have someone who just cleaned out their 13 year old's stuff for all the clothes that don't fit. They are going to donate it all to us! So we should be good on clothes and will maybe need to purchase a swimsuit, shoes, and undies, plus a school backpack and piece of luggage. In addition, I've given our address to around 15 people who have asked through the blog and facebook who are wanting to send checks. Woo Hoo! We're on our way!

Yesterday I talked to the kids about my leap of faith that God is leading me toward updating my foster care home study to an adoption home study and beginning the journey of adopting, most likely internationally. I feel that He is whispering to me that there is a child that is meant to be a part of our forever family and that I need to be ready. If we were to get a foster placement, that could change, but right now, I’m trying to follow God’s voice.

So I spoke to the kids a little last night about it. Liam doesn’t “get it” and the conversation pretty much went over his head, but Olivia and Braeden were jumping up and down and yelling ,“Yes!” They are excited, to say the least. Then they took it upon themselves to discuss the gender of the child, first saying they wanted a baby sister, then firmly deciding on a baby brother. It was too cute!

This morning we woke up and the first thing Braeden said was, “Mom, let’s go adopt our baby boy!” All the sincerity and grins he could muster, it was so sweet! So I had to explain (again, I DID go over this yesterday but it must’ve gotten lost in the excitement), how it will take quite a while and that it is also pretty expensive and we’ll have to work together as a family to save money (This is where my biggest leap of faith is… Financially how are we as a single family home with a teacher for a parent…. Going to AFFORD this???!!! But, I believe with all I am that if this is truly HIS leading, then it will happen.) Braeden turned to me, with all seriousness, and said, “Are girls less expensive?” HILARIOUS! I did go on to explain that we weren’t buying a child, but rather that the paperwork and help we would need is what costs money. It was just priceless!

Hosting entails so much more than I ever realized. I'm excited about all of it, don't get me wrong, but it's much more than "hang out with a child for a few weeks." As a hosting family, we are to provide clothes, luggage, some simple toys/items, a dental visit and eye exam, follow ups if either of those prove to require work, mandated group activities if other host families are close by, weekly reports... A lot to take in, but it all makes sense, just things I hadn't thought of previously. And I'm excited to do it! :)

Of course there's also the financial commitment. In addition to the clothes, luggage, and small personal items (the dental and eye exams are usually donated), there is also the cost of travel and fees to bring them here in the first place. For us, that translates to $2500-$2750, depending on how the travel works out for his return flight.

In order to raise hopefully a portion of those funds, we are holding a pretty cool (I totally stole the idea!) fundraiser. We are going to be purchasing a 500 piece puzzle this coming week. For each five dollars donated, we will write the name of that donor on the back of one puzzle piece. Donate $20 and we will write your name on four pieces. Then, the completed puzzle, each person coming together to bring Davids to the US for this life-changing experience, will be presented to him as a gift while he's here. I plan to use this to show him how very much God loves him, how each of those who donated money to bring him to us love him and are sharing the love of God with him through their donation. I think it will be an amazing and very real representation of God's work in this world.

If you would be able to donate even five dollars, you would be helping to provide that opportunity to this child. God has ordained that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27) While not all of us may be able to host or adopt ourselves, we can all empower others in this ministry by donating. Please consider prayerfully if God is leading in this area.

If you would like to donate, you can donate safely through the paypal button on the right of the blog. Paypal does take a small portion of your donation for their fees, so if you'd rather not lose that portion you can email me and if I "know" you I will send you my address and you can send a check instead. For each $5 donated in any way, your name will be placed on the back of one of the puzzle pieces which will be given to Davids when he arrives. I will place a picture of the puzzle on the blog once it's purchased. Thank you SO MUCH for your support!!!

Remember, even more important than financial support is your prayer support. If you are at all praying and supporting us, PLEASE leave a comment and let me know so we can be praying for you and yours as well! God bless!

We have officially put on hold and begun the application process to bring Davids (yes, it's Davids with an -s) to our home for five weeks this summer from Latvia.

Davids is 15, but is the size of an 11 year old. He is described as bright, creative, thoughtful, and funny. He plays beautifully with young children, dreams of being a pilot, has read all of the Harry Potter books, enjoys soccer and swimming, and much more!

As I was emailing a few concerns and questions about hosting to the director of the program (we're going to be in Florida when it's time for their departure and I didn't know if we could still host and work that out), I gave her a list of five kids we were thinking/praying about possibly hosting and asked if any were spoken for or if she knew if one was a good fit for us. She said that when she saw Davids name on our list her "heart lept" because he was one of her favorites and she had really hoped he'd have the opportunity to come to America. I knew God had answered my question of "who." And thought travel isn't completely worked out, I know He will also answer the question of "how."

Please pray for Davids and for our family through this time. That we can prepare and be the best example of God's love to him that we possibly can. Also, please prayerfully consider supporting us. We would love your support prayerfully and will need financial support as well.

We can't wait to share our home with Davids, to hang out with him and teach him and learn from him. What an experience for us all!

We have officially put a child on hold to host over part of the summer!!! I'm so excited, nervous, thrilled, etc...!!! We are going to be hosting a 15 year old boy from Latvia! As soon as I know that I can post his picture and more information I certainly will!

Please pray for him, pray for us, and pray for our fundraising we'll be doing to help with the costs! Thank you!!!

Living in a perfect world is a bittersweet idea. For me it conjures up the world the way God would have originally imagined it to be. Or at least the way I imagine that God would have imagined it. ☺ It would be a place where people would get along, where no one would hurt or be sad at someone’s remarks that cut them to the core, where things would be shared if someone needed food or shelter or clothing, where we would all truly be spiritual siblings, and would treat each other as such. But, as I said it would be bittersweet. For as wonderful as that sounds, as wonderful and glorifying as that would be, it would also mean that I didn’t have any children. I wouldn’t have my three beautiful blessings. Because in a perfect world, parents would marry their husbands and wives, would have children, and would parent, lovingly, those children until adulthood. I’m sure there would still be a form of adoption brought on by the rare tragedy, taking a child’s family from them and leaving them without anyone else, but in that case we would all simply follow God’s providence, His plan, and WE would all care for the widows and the ORPHANS. Parents wouldn’t choose negative behavior over their children. Parents wouldn’t be forced to place their children for adoption because they couldn’t care for them. Situations like the little boy I submitted paperwork for wouldn’t exist (he is a beloved child with Down’s, the son of a single parent with no support, who has received multitudes of therapies, etc, but she just can’t keep on). In a perfect world, I (if I had money, if I had space, If….) would take them BOTH in and help HER to care for HER child. And in a perfect world, children wouldn’t be forced into foster care, where families wouldn’t choose to continue their negative behavior over “earning” their child back, where states wouldn’t be forced to take parental rights away, where I wouldn’t be adopting my children, and where I wouldn’t have to go through with one of my beauties what I went through last night.

Because last night I ended up holding and comforting a sobbing six year old as he wept and wept for birth parents he doesn’t know. Crying to know what they look like, what their names are, what they are like. And I held him, and comforted him, rocked him, and my heart broke for him, broke with him. And even at six years old, as he was going through what he was going through, he turned to me and said that he loves me, that I am a good mom, but that he would just like to know them. Wow. We talked and prayed and I reassured him that they love him, they think of him, they will love to know him one day. And as I put him to bed I told him his birth dad’s first name. (I couldn’t remember his mom’s but will look it up to tell him.) He began a falsetto type song about his dad (name) and how he is the best dad. And then I battled myself, with human emotion, which I can’t believe I am even admitting, and was thinking not so nice things about this dad that Braeden was singing so beautifully about. Luckily my Godly side won out and I stopped and just broke apart all over again for my son, for his heart, for his loss, and for his grief.

In a perfect world I wouldn’t have to see my son go through this. But in a perfect world I wouldn’t have my son. Bittersweet.

* We are thinking of hosting a child from Latvia for some time this summer. They would most likely be available for adoption, but we'd play that by ear and see how it goes. The only thing in the way currently is that we will be in Florida at the time they are to depart, so I'm checking to see if there's any way they could possibly travel back with a group out of FL.

* Olivia will be going by herself for her first time to visit her grandparents in Florida. She does SO MUCH for me, all the time, I really struggled to find a way to honor that in her. I didn't want to just "buy" her something. My parents have spoken in the past about wanting the kids to visit when they were old enough, and I thought now would be a great time for Olivia to do just that. I broached the subject and my mom was THRILLED. Our trip this summer won't be until mid July, so Olivia will be going for a few days after school in the beginning of June. Of course I think I did make a mistake though in telling her now, as that is ALL that we here about! LOL :)

* The four year old boy in Indiana still does not have a forever family chosen. I am anxiously awaiting news, but think I most likely won't hear if we're not the ones chosen.

* Still no news on the house or job. I just wish I knew what we would be doing. I am tired of living in "house selling" mode. I am tired of saying "That's packed" as we packed up a bunch to declutter the house. I am tired of not seeing all of our family photos as we removed them to make the house as non-specific as possible. I want to get a dog, for the kids right, and yet don't want to get one when we're trying to sell our house and had told the kids we'd get one when we moved. And I am tired of waiting to find out. :) Come on, God, just TELL me!!! :)

* A great friend and I are planning a trip in early August to celebrate (or should that be bemoan) my turning 40 this summer. We are going to fly to Vegas, leaving my kids with my parents while I'm gone, and possibly stay a day or two at the Grand Canyon as well. I've never been to Vegas and thought that would be a great one to do with no kids, and the GC has always been a dream of mine and is in driving distance. So.... I did pick up this dress on clearance to wear "out" on the town... what do you think???

With all of the lovely budget cuts and issues in IL regarding teaching, and spreading to other parts of the country as well I see, I have not heard one thing about a job in the area I was hoping to move to. There were a couple posting for positions a little ways out, and I did apply, but was not asked for an interview. I don't blame them. If you had the cutbacks schools do and could choose to hire someone right out of college or someone who's been teaching for 10 years, who would you choose? I get it, but still. :)

No news on the house either. The young couple who I thought was a maybe, really was. They loved the house, the area, everything, BUT were also applying to be RA's for our local Christian college, and ended up getting the position and not needing housing. There was someone who asked if I would consider a rent to own situation, and after looking into it, and deciding to leave it in God's hands, haven't heard back since he saw the house on Saturday.

I truly believe it was God who gave me the nudge, the desire, to want to move. We're happy here, it's not that we're not, but after getting that desire, I have thought and daydreamed about moving, and have really begun to look forward to it, and now.... nothing. So we wait, and leave it to HIM.

And with adoption... there was a posting recently for a four year old boy in a neighboring state with Down Syndrome. He is currently living with his birth mom and she is overwhelmed with no support. So in a rush, I wrote, emailed, faxed, my homestudy, a birthmother letter, and photos. But, there was lots of interest, which I'm tremendously happy about, and I haven't heard anything, so I'm guessing we're not chosen.

And while I'm on eharmony, nothing yet in that area either! So if you happen to know any caring, considerate, Christian men in the 35-45 year old range, looking to meet someone and possibly be interested in the field of adoption, send 'em my way! :)

I got my hair done, and got a tattoo… my first, should I say ONLY ☺… to help with an adoption fundraiser and to “celebrate” my weight loss. As of right now I’ve lost 73 pounds! What staggers me is the fact that I could strap Olivia on my back and STILL not have that much weight added back on! I can’t imagine her getting on my back and walking around and doing things, yet I was doing that every day for years! Unreal!A few days after the tattoo, Olivia and I ran our first 5K. She LOVES to run and was SO very excited to do this! But, it ended up being COLD! 33 degrees in fact, and she could not get past that and feel warm. So I ended up walking most of it with her, running a few times in the midst, and trying to keep her spirits up. She felt so defeated and ready to give in, I could just read it on her face, yet she kept going, kept persisting, and went on. Halfway through a very generous soul gave her a jacket and gloves and that got her going again. We made it through, were not the last ones, and can now say with pride that we’ve done a 5K! And, even better, we have a great time we can surely beat the NEXT time! ☺

That 5K was held in my hometown, benefitting a wonderful Christian organization which I basically grew up in, Young Life. Young Life is geared toward high schoolers and is a crazy, fun way to share the gospel and get kids started on that personal relationship with Christ.

We spent some time with good friends Friday night, Braeden’s godmother and her two lovelys Saturday, went to a great Easter Egg Hunt while there, then headed 40 minutes away to where my dad’s side of the family live. My cousins were throwing a surprise party for my aunt’s 60th birthday. It was great to spend time with everyone and see people! We went to our favorite pizza place on our way out of town and although we got home late, it was a wonderful weekend.

The following Friday we headed up to a log cabin we rented for the Easter weekend. I wanted to spend some time with JUST US for a change and have some peace and quiet. It was great! The weather was gorgeous! We had time in the sand, time at a movie, time to play outside, time to build fires in the fireplace, time to decorate eggs, and time to hunt for eggs.

The sweetest surprise ever awaited me after the kids had found all of the eggs and their baskets and we went to sit around the fireplace and watch some tv. I pulled back the blanket on the chaise I had “claimed” while we were there and was stunned to find a hidden Easter basket. There had been no children hinting at me finding it, nothing, and I was amazed. The note inside, along with the foam eggs decorations and chocolate candy, was the sweetest thing!

If you can’t read it, it says: “Dear admirere I think you take care of your kids very well. Your kids are thankful for you although they do not act like it sometimes. Love, Secret Admirere”

We came back last Monday to the rest of spring break. On Wednesday I spent the day with Braeden and Olivia running some errands, going to a medical appt for Braeden in order to get a referral to see a doctor about beginning him on meds for ADHD. His teacher and I have been working together and both feel that this is the time to begin, using this last month of school as a time where she can watch him to make sure we get him on the right one. Then they were able to go to a local indoor bounce facility they hadn’t been to yet.

Thursday Olivia and Liam had neuro appts and Olivia had another EEG. Her EEG showed that she is still having seizure activity while awake, but mostly while asleep. That means she is not fully being rested at night which explains so much. My kids currently go to bed at 7 and are up between 6:15 and 7 in the morning. My boys could easily go to bed a good hour later, but Olivia can’t. I’ve tried putting her to bed later, especially in the summer, and she is cranky, emotional, and sometimes behavioral when I do. Well, now it falls into place. If she’s not even getting enough rest by going to bed at 7, she’s getting even less going to bed later, and when she’s tired, that’s how her body reacts. Due to her other medications however, her neurologist now has to discuss with them what to do and make sure any new meds they’re considering don’t conflict with ones she’s currently taking.

Friday I took a mom’s day and ran errands in the morning and saw TWO movies back to back in the afternoon with a friend! ☺

Braeden discovered Saturday that he has a new tooth coming in, even though he hasn't even lost his first one yet! He is DYING for that silly tooth fairy to come visit his bed! :)

Saturday was a zoo day, and the weather was GORGEOUS! We spent time with good friends and their two kiddos and had a blast!

And finally, yesterday, we went to church and then to get a family picture… much needed! ☺ It turned out great and we had a fun day at the mall!

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About Me

I am a single mom to four amazing kids; each of whom just happen to have been adopted. The first three were adopted through foster care, and we just completed an international adoption from Haiti. Our family has grown through adoption and I am all the more blessed to know each of my children. I worship a mighty God, teach Special Ed, love bargains, and am inspired by Pinterest... come along with us for the ride!

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-HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact. HIV is not spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way. It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles).
- HIV is now considered a chronic but manageable disease. With treatment, people who are HIV+ can live indefinitely without developing AIDS and can live long and full lives.
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Additional information on transmission of HIV can be found on the Center for Disease Control website: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources

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Orphan Crisis

• 147 million orphans in the world
• 50 million orphans in Africa
• Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS
• 16,000,000 have been orphaned by AIDS
• Every week, AIDS claims as many lives as American fatalities in the Vietnam War
• 854 million people do not have enough to eat
• Malnutrition is associated with the deaths of 5 million children under the age of five
• Every 2 seconds an orphan dies from malnutrition

Hence the title of my blog

Little Did I Know

Little did I know that the road would be so rocky
Little did I know that the trip would take so long
Little did I know that my heart could hurt so much
Little did I know that God is never wrong

Little did I know that love could be so powerful
Little did I know that a dream so far could go
Little did I know that God would place the right ones
Little did I know that my heart, so large, could grow

Little did I know that a dream has it’s own timing
Little did I know that this day would finally come
Little did I know that four souls would be sent to guide me
Little did I know that they would choose to call me mom

But God knew all along and He had a plan to follow
God knew all along that my dream would soon come true
God knew all along that we five should be together
God knew all along that I’d share it all with you